‘Smurfing’ Continues to Plague Overwatch Matchmaking

Last month, we reported on Overwatch players calling for a Twitch streamer to be banned for what is being referred to as ‘smurfing’. This entails seasoned players creating new accounts in order to achieve a high kill rate against new players.

Not to say that this is something that is completely new to the game, nor is it a tactic found in other online shooters. Nevertheless, it is a growing issue in Overwatch as more players are citing smurfing within their games. Despite Blizzard’s continued efforts to make matchmaking as fair and as smooth as possible, smurfing appears to becoming a part of the Overwatch experience, sadly.

In order to gauge how common it is, one user took to the Overwatch forums to see if any fellow community members had also been affected. User VanFanelMX posted: “I am wondering, how many matches have you experienced where you highly suspect the other team had smurfs?” From a personal perspective, I am yet to encounter the issue, so perhaps these growing reports will prompt users such as myself to keep an eye out for such instances.

Other haven’t been so lucky in avoiding these smurfs, with members such as Sugioh, who replied: “Pretty frequent. I’d say I encounter at least one a day that is quite obvious (a genji with 3 hours played who plays like he’s 4k+, etc).” Psychokraken meanwhile encounters “a ton of smurfs almost everyday” whilst Cherry notices that they appear “Every third match get a triple group with at least 1 guy that’s like level 14. Pretty frequent and annoying because it [email protected]#$s up the match making system.”

The majority of the responses follow suit in a negative manner towards experiencing smurfing in their respective games, which is of course a massive hindrance on Overwatch’s matchmaking system. They may not be intentional smurfs who are going back purposely to give lower ranked players a tough time, but may have started new accounts after being banned previously. Many players are reporting that this is something that is very common within quick play in particular, and will hopefully be resolved by Blizzard somehow in the near future.

Still leaves the problem of matchmaking being impacted by smurfing. Of course you don’t care, you ARE one of the smurfs and the high level players. For the lower level players, imagine trying to play, and getting matchmade with players who are far better than you. Kinda kills the experience. Makes it less competitive for expert players too. I’d rather have an EVEN matchup, than play anybody far better or even far worse than me.